How to get out of an overtired mess?? help!

[vixter07]

My 11 week old DD is stuck in a 45 minute rut! I thought she was taking short naps as she was undertired so have been trying to increase her A time but seems to be worse than before! She used to do some long naps (1.5-2 hours) but they all started being about an hour so I thought it was time to increase A time (from about 1 hr/ 1hr 10 minutes to about 1 hr 20)...so I did this last week and the first day we had 2 long naps and 2 shorter naps (1 is normally catnap in evening)...so that was pretty good. The next day all naps were about an hour again. Yesterday and today we have been dealing with all naps at 45 minutes. We are on a 3 hour EASY and I am trying to start 3.5 (if we can get naps under control)! Our LO eats at about 7:30, 11, 2 or 2:30, 5 or 5:30 and again around 7:30/8, DF at 11 and has been STTN.I know A time is supposed to be 1 hr 20ish but her sleepy cues seem to happen so much sooner than that! We have had short first morning nap since birth so I think I need to extend morning A time even though she seems sleepy. My question is how to adjust the following A time if the first nap is short and I can't extend.
For example..this morning LO:
E- 7:30
S- 8:50- 9:35
The next E isn't until 10:30/11, which is an hour after she woke....Do I start the next A time since she woke up at 9:35 (and down for next nap before 11) or after her next feed of 10:30/11:00 (nap starts 11:50ish). Today was a mess as she couldn't get out of the OT mess, so we had a bunch of 45 min naps. If I only get a 45min nap there is still an hour until her next E so do I put her down for her next nap right after she eats and hope for a longer nap? I worry that the 45 min nap cycle will result in another short nap and then there is more than 2 hours until her next E. I would then be trying to get her to sleep half an hour before her next E and then she'd wake hungry after ANOTHER short nap!
So, I am looking for some help about how to handle the day when the first nap is short and I cannot extend. I have tried to extend using the same method I use to get her to sleep (paci, hands on chest, and SHH-pat if needed) with little luck. In the past I have been getting her up if I can't extend and go run errands or put her in the swing (where she may or may not sleep more). I really want to get a good first nap as that sets the tone for the whole day!
Thanks

[amayzie]

Hi hon- how is she when she wakes up from the 45 minute nap?  Generally with extending naps only try for 15/20 minutes if ou do it at all- you can tell in that time if she's going to settle or not...

Try not to worry too much about the E times- but focus on getting the A times right to help the naps along. The short naps can be a developmental thing- but i generally found that the 1 hou naps were developmental and the 45 minute ones meant that the A time needed adjusting.

[vixter07]

When people say short naps are "developmental" are they saying it is just something that will get better with age (and I can't do anything about it)? She has been pretty good the last few days with napping. 2 out of the 3 naps have been good (1.5 hour or more) the last 3 days. We have a video so I can see her wake at around 45 minutes but she has been able to get back to sleep on her own. I know most of these problems come and go so I'll just continue to do what I am doing and try not to stress out about it! Plus, she is approaching 3 months now so may have a growth spurt and change things up again. It is nice to have this forum though so when I am worried or stressed others are there to calm me down!! Thank you!

[amayzie]

When people say short naps are "developmental" are they saying it is just something that will get better with age (and I can't do anything about it)?

Yup- this is pretty much it!!   basically until about 6 months they can be sorting out their day sleep and are prone to short napping- with all the best routines in place!

IT sounds though that stuff is going well though! The resettling at the 45 min mark is what you are after!